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Geocaching Ireland

When I established the forums in 2005 it was to offer a more richer web experience and greater functionality than the platform where we started this social adventure in 2003, Yahoo Groups. The forums were once a busy hive of activity and provided locals and visitors with a wealth of information just like the Geocaching Ireland Discussion Group on Facebook today.

It was a time where we didn't have the many social media platforms we have today, and it was a different time in terms of mobility and technology. There was no instant access to information, no Google Maps and a very limited base map on your GPSr. Mobile connectivity for me was a 9600bps Infrared connection from a Nokia to a laptop and in later times to a PDA using WAP.

As we moved into the social media era so did our forums users. Geocaching Ireland moved there too, and we have a thriving community on the Geocaching Ireland Discussion Group on Facebook. As a result, forum activity isn't what it used to be and I have taken the decision to disable new registrations to the forums and to make the forums read only so any information there can still be accessed.

Following on from a discussion on the private reviewers' forum I've decided to start this thread as a place for people to ask questions about the review process and/or the GC.com guidelines.

Many people already email me about things but if you think others would be interested in your query feel free to post here too.

The email option is still available of course for anything you want to keep private

Couple of pointers:

Please keep things friendly. I don't want to see this thread become a vehicle for slagging off another cacher or their placements. If you want to enquire about something you've seen in a cache then keep it general so that nobody else will be able to guess what cache you are discussing.

Every now and again someone will ask a question that I'm not able to answer. I will answer everything I can but will state clearly when I can't. Please respect this position.

Sometimes I'll answer using my dino account and sometimes as Croaghan. No inference of authority should be taken from this. Sometimes it'll just be easier to answer as dino

Geocaching.com asks geocachers to become volunteer cache reviewers based on an identified need in the local area. Qualifications include experience level (most volunteers have hidden dozens of caches and found hundreds or thousands), reputation within the local geocaching community, involvement with any local geocaching organizations, demonstrated ability to work with land managers, communications skills, and knowledge of the geocache listing guidelines.

The best thing you can do if you'd like to become a cache reviewer is to work on each of the qualifications described above. Then, when you least expect it, you might be asked!

parkmoy wrote:I'll kick this one off Niall. Could you explain the concept of a 'power trail' and outline the guidelines that would be used to determine if such a series should be published as a multi cache?

Also could you give examples of where such a series might be allowed as separate caches?

This one isn't as easy and it's one that gets discussed frequently in the reviewers' forum but I'll try my best

I guess a stereotypical power trail would look something like this:

Identical cache descriptions (often referred to as "cookie cutter" caches in the US)

Usually all traditionals

All placed under the one account

All placed for release at the same time

Designed to be found one after the other

Placed the minimum distance apart (or slightly further)

Follow a waymarked walk, trail or similar route

There are a couple of cache series that I've published that come close to being power trails but that I've let go because they have merits in their own right.

I know I'm breaking one of my own rules here but Steve's Rampart Canal Series* comes very close to a power trail. To give an indication why I published them as a series instead of asking them to be one long multi here was my thinking:

There is a mix of cache types

The locations used have merits in their own right and each is "good" enough to have it's own cache placement

It is possible to access some of the caches without walking the entire length of the canal walk

Some of the caches are multi/mystery that require quite a bit of work and deduction before finding them

They are placed so that cachers can find a range of caches at interesting locations along a canal walk rather than just as a numbers run

Although they were all released at the same time this was to coincide with an Event

Although some of them have very similar cache listings most of this is history of the canal and the development of the canal walk

I guess that if you have a series of caches that you wish to release and you are concerned about them being a power trail then the best thing to do is email me and we can discuss it before you do lots of work on it

Finally I'll outline the thinking behind why there is a power trail section in the guidelines:

The concept of geocaching is to get people to go places they haven't been before, not travel 1/10th of a mile to a place they haven't been before.

To prevent one geocacher from completely saturating an area and preventing others from hiding a cache

It just doesn't look very good to land managers when an area is saturated with caches in this way.

* I don't think Steve will mind me referring to his series this way but it can be removed on request

I had been working on a cache (which never got the length of being reviewed or published ) .I archived it but now that I have a little time I'd like to get it up and running again.
Question - Do I need to fill in a new cache page or if I tick the box in the old page will it show up in the queue?

beefy4605 wrote:I had been working on a cache (which never got the length of being reviewed or published ) .I archived it but now that I have a little time I'd like to get it up and running again.
Question - Do I need to fill in a new cache page or if I tick the box in the old page will it show up in the queue?

A cache will never show in the review queue, proximity searches or on the listings if it is archived. A cache owner cannot remove the archived tag even if the listing is edited to say it is active. There is no option in the log section to enable or unarchive.

However, if you email me the GC Code then I can unarchive it for you similar to a published cache. In fact, I unarchive a number of caches that people initially don't get time to finish or, like yourself, have a change of mind on.

From what i can see, archived caches remain in the database,
I recently archived a cache (which I might request be unarchived) and it is still recorded as a placed cache by me.
i.e. I have 26 placed caches, 25 live, 1 archived, but in my stats it shows as 26.
Its debatable whether this is correct or now, but thats the way it seems to work.

As far as I know they can never be removed completely as that would mess up the stas of people who have found that caches.
The "placed" stats for any person will always show all the caches that they have had reviewed/ activated at one time, regardless of how many of those are now archived.

johnrm wrote:From what i can see, archived caches remain in the database,
I recently archived a cache (which I might request be unarchived) and it is still recorded as a placed cache by me.
i.e. I have 26 placed caches, 25 live, 1 archived, but in my stats it shows as 26.
Its debatable whether this is correct or now, but thats the way it seems to work.

Correct, they don't get removed from the DB even if they never get published. Every archived cache has a piece of text at the top of the page to say that the cache is no longer active but a copy is kept for archival purposes. The only way to get to the cache is via a direct link as it won't show on searches (except on the owner's profile page).

Your stat bar and profile say you have hidden X caches. If you hide 26 and then archive 1 then you've still hidden 26 so the figure is correct.

Some cachers don't like to see archived caches on their profile so they create a second account and adopt the cache over to that account before they archive it.

As Fjon also says removing a cache from the DB would also mess up a person's found stats.

Occasionally you may also see a cache listing being retracted. This usually happens when a cache is published by mistake when a sleepy headed reviewer clicks on the wrong button

I have also heard of (but not seen) this being used to remove a cache from public view completely when requested by a landowner when a cache has been placed without permission and people are still going to visit it after it has been archived. AFAIK although the cache can't be seen the finds on it still count. I'm not 100% sure on that though and would have to check.

johnrm wrote:So If you request unarchival, then move the cache 10 or 20 miles and completely change the name, theme and make-up, is it the same cache?

Different experience, different cache but you can only move it 161m anyway without asking for help and I still get a notification email that you have made that move even if you don't need me to help out

Croaghan wrote:Different experience, different cache but you can only move it 161m anyway without asking for help and I still get a notification email that you have made that move even if you don't need me to help out

Im wondering what the guidelines are for event caches. i was interested in going to one recently but wasnt able to because I have acute asthma and wouldnt of been able to stay overnight in a tent (due to damp air etc). I would of been perfectly happy to find a b&b or hotel nearby and attend the event for the days it was running but unfortunately the event cache had a stipulation that you had to stay in a tent. I was disappointed and felt that in this case anyone with severe asthma like mine may be excluded. Especially since asthma is always worse at night when your lungs are laying flat as any fluid etc travels from the bottom upwards.

Is there no guideline to protect for this. I know caches have ratings for terrain but surely event caches should be open to everyone?

my opinion would be that you don't go then. Most caches can have stipulations about what you have to do to complete them so an event is no different. Only if they said you were not allowed to go there would be a problem

you could say on a puzzle cache that my iq is not high enough to complete the puzzle so can i log it as a find? or a multi i could say i can not walk that far to complete the cache and so on and so forth.

its only a game and there's no prizes so i wouldn't get to bothered about it